Uber Eying Crypto For Payments Again. Will It Follow Through This Time?

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that the firm is in “the study phase” of accepting stablecoins for payments.
This is the third time Uber has expressed interest in accepting cryptocurrency payments.
While Uber failed to follow through after previous mentions of using cryptocurrencies for payments, there are several reasons to believe that this time could be different.

The cryptocurrency adoption train is showing no signs of slowing. Amid the recent wave of attention the industry is receiving under the Trump administration, Uber UBER has again revealed interest in accepting cryptocurrencies for payments. But will the firm follow through this time?

Uber is in “the study phase” of accepting stablecoins for payments, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in San Francisco last week.

“I think stablecoin is one of the more interesting instantiations of crypto that has a practical benefit other than crypto as a store of value,” he said.

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Khosrowshahi particularly highlighted the potential of stablecoins to improve cross-border transactions.

“I do think that stablecoin is quite promising, especially for global companies that are moving money around globally, to create a mechanism for us to essentially reduce costs in terms of moving money internationally,” he said. “So that’s super interesting to us, and we’re definitely going to take a look.”

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Third Time’s A Charm?

This is the third time Uber has expressed interest in accepting cryptocurrency payments. Khosrowshahi said in 2021 that the firm was willing to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for payments if it saw a benefit to doing so but dismissed any plans to add these assets to its balance sheet, as Tesla had done at the time.

“Just like we accept all kinds of local currency we are going to look at cryptocurrency and or Bitcoin in terms of currency to transact,” he said. “If there’s a benefit there, if there’s a need there we’ll do it.”

Then, in 2022, Khosrowshahi said Uber would “absolutely” accept cryptocurrencies for payments “at some point.”

But Khosrowshahi pointed to high transaction costs and environmental concerns as constraints.

“We’re having conversations all the time,” he said at the time. “As the exchange mechanism becomes less expensive and becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us leaning into crypto a little bit more.”

Why This Time Might Be Different

While Uber failed to follow through after previous mentions of using cryptocurrencies for payments, there are several reasons to believe that this time could be different. First, addressing Khosrowshahi’s previously identified concerns, cryptocurrency transaction costs have become increasingly low as blockchains prioritize scalability. This is particularly true for Ethereum, Solana and Tron, the blockchains that are popular for stablecoin transactions.

At the same time, with the shift of Bitcoin miners toward renewable energy and Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake, the carbon footprint of cryptocurrencies is decreasing.

Beyond these, Uber is likely to benefit from regulatory clarity, as the Senate is debating a stablecoin bill in its latter stages.

Meanwhile, Uber is not the only company considering the adoption of stablecoins. Last week, Fortune reported that Apple AAPL, X, Airbnb ABNB and Google are also in talks with cryptocurrency firms to do so.